1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to (a) a film information writing device that writes film information and that is used in a photographic system in which (i) predetermined film information comprising print format information and trimming information is recorded onto the film surface of rolled film during image recording, and (ii) the images captured on each frame of the rolled film are printed on photographic paper or displayed on a display device in accordance with the film information, as well as (b) a camera equipped with said device.
2. Related Art
In related technology, print format information that represents a print format (aspect ratio) for the exposed frame is optically or magnetically recorded onto the film surface. A system has also been proposed in which the trimming information representing the magnification for printing a part of the image in the exposed frame in enlargement is written onto the film surface. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Sho 54-26721 discloses a system wherein a finder view-field size may be optically changed and the trimming information is optically written onto the film surface in tandem with the finder view-field size.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,111 discloses a system in which a code that indicates a pseudo-panorama or pseudo-telephoto format is optically recorded next to the frames of the film.
However, in these conventional examples, both the print format information and the trimming information cannot be set. That is, a desired print format and a desired trimming magnification cannot be set together.
Further, even if it is possible to set format information and trimming information together, there are combinations of format information and trimming information in which useful prints cannot be obtained. In other words, where the trimming magnification is too large, the image becomes excessively enlarged during printing, which leads to a deterioration in image quality. There is a limit (upper limit) to the trimming magnification that may be effectively set, and this limit varies depending on the print format.